Letter Day

Definitely Letter Day today for me! I feel SO loved!. It seems that workdays are the days that God thinks I need a letter, or two or three... or maybe nine.  At lunchtime I sat and ate my burger while reading some cards, letters, and jokes :).
What a great day, all morning I was feeling exhausted and that I could just fall asleep at any moment, the arrival of my letters in the mail brought me some energy to work through workday.
Thank-you Darren, Carrie, Robin, Ellie, Sadie, Auntie Jess, Tia, and Daddy Richard!!!! Love you all!

Another Day

So its Tuesday. Not too much happened yesterday, I had a Hong Kong meeting. That went well, Woodsy is really funny. He was explaining how when we first speak in tongues we won't get some great feeling like we're on fire. He compared this to your first kiss, how you expect it to be SO great and then are sorely disappointed lol, he also jumped around as he said it. Also, in almost every meeting he brings up children and parenting, this week he said "and one day Brianna will have a baby...". Hmm, thanks Woodsy. Anyway I really enjoy hanging out with all of them. Thursday after lunch we have another shopping trip for supplies that we are taking to Hong Kong. OH, I can't believe I almost forgot this. We have raised all 8000$ that we need, so any more money that comes in will be given to New Man House on top of the other gifts and money to any needs that they have.

So my outline is finished and I just have to memorize my verse today. Lots of people put off their assignments to the very last minute and then get really stressed about it. Not good.

Today I meet for the first time with my mentor, I'm not sure what we will be talking about. I think it will be about my relationship with God and how I'm growing, etc.

Last thing, we've decided to take Saturday and have a baking day since the oven now works in the student kitchen!! So excited, too bad we have to go out and buy all the ingredients....

Another Day

So its Tuesday. Not too much happened yesterday, I had a Hong Kong meeting. That went well, Woodsy is really funny. He was explaining how when we first speak in tongues we won't get some great feeling like we're on fire. He compared this to your first kiss, how you expect it to be SO great and then are sorely disappointed lol, he also jumped around as he said it. Also, in almost every meeting he brings up children and parenting, this week he said "and one day Brianna will have a baby...". Hmm, thanks Woodsy. Anyway I really enjoy hanging out with all of them. Thursday after lunch we have another shopping trip for supplies that we are taking to Hong Kong. OH, I can't believe I almost forgot this. We have raised all 8000$ that we need, so any more money that comes in will be given to New Man House on top of the other gifts and money to any needs that they have.

So my outline is finished and I just have to memorize my verse today. Lots of people put off their assignments to the very last minute and then get really stressed about it. Not good.

Today I meet for the first time with my mentor, I'm not sure what we will be talking about. I think it will be about my relationship with God and how I'm growing, etc.

Last thing, we've decided to take Saturday and have a baking day since the oven now works in the student kitchen!! So excited, too bad we have to go out and buy all the ingredients....

Some Days...

Breakfast Friday morning was a hit and went really well. We started at about quarter past 6, cutting fruit and planning how to take out the food. Frida came and helped us and we were done a lot faster because of her! Then that night we decided to walk across the road to the Briars, you may think that when I use the phrase "across the road" that it is a short walk. You would be wrong. The school is located on the other side of the road as the Briars but there is a long, windy driveway, a highway, and a wooden fence in between them. It was thundering and lightning when we left the hall and it was raining a bit. When we got to the Briars we saw that all that tables on the patio that were out of the rain had been booked. After some thinking and the pooling of ideas we decided to head back to the school... it wasn't a bad idea , but neither was it a great one. It poured and poured, we walked and walked. By the time we were back at the school we were all soaking wet from head to toe, drenched really. The night went better after we returned to the school though, I baked a cake for everyone while they watched a movie and we chatted a bit too.

Today Miriam and I went and catered at an engagement party, we had fun and definitely worked well together. I really like serving people and since we weren't given instructions on what exactly we were expected to do, we helped where we could and everything got done.  I think Kim was really impressed with all that we did and that we weren't bothering her every two seconds to find out what to do next. She got to enjoy the party and  didn't have to worry about food, drinks, or dishes. I'm not sure how much money we will each get paid, but it doesn't really matter. The fact that I could help out and keep busy the whole time, gave me what I had been lacking, a job, even if it was just for four hours I needed it.  I'm so used to working at home, that was what my time was filled with before I came here, where now my "job" is schoolwork. Quite the change.

Tonight a bunch of the Capernwray students signed out for dinner and went for pizza. Since I wasn't around this afternoon to be invited, I took a nap. It was supposed to be a short nap but, it ended up being a 2 1/2 hr nap.

Talent Night and a shopping trip

Talent Night was great! Lots of surprises that IS for sure. I didn't sign up for anything but I got to go up on stage anyways thanks to Seth, and played Minute to Win It. I didn't win it in a Minute you could say but got close to sliding the Oreo from my forehead into my mouth. Everyone's acts were pretty great, there was some singing, dancing, comedy, music, etc. Then at the end Mitch and Seth played a slideshow that they had put together... They said it was about their two favorite things, Country music and Women. They picked a different country song for every girl at Capers, for example Olivia's was about her Auburn Hair and Blue eyes. Someone's picture would come up and a different song would play and then specific words from the song would pop up. Mine was my recent profile picture along with the song, You make me wanna make you love me and the lyrics that popped up on the screen were: You make me want to buy a ring... I look back at Seth and he waves at me :P. hah. Anyways it was well put together and you could tell that they both put lots of time and effort into it.

Today the Hong Kong team went shopping to get everything ready for breakfast tomorrow. We have to get up at 6am, to cut up all the fruit for the fruit salad. We had ALOT of fun shopping! We went to Aldi's which is a cheap supermarket and bought most of our stuff there. We were planning on buying hot cross buns and when the guys saw the chocolate chip ones, there was no use trying to deter them and stick to buying the regular ones. We got into some other discussions about some of our other choices but it turned out good. I don't think we bought too much and think that we will definitely have enough. Then when we went to cash out we were guessing what the total cost would be and a little old lady behind us guessed too lol, she was almost spot on as well. Since they don't give you bags or bag your groceries for you, Woodsy says "c'mon guys" and two of them start packing the groceries into the cart as fast as they can. I looked to the left of us to the other line and one of the ladies was laughing right along with me. The cashier couldn't have been more grouchy with his dyed hair and scowl.

We went to Woolworths last to pick up the rest of the stuff on our shopping list and Woosdy laughed at me for insisting on buying the cheapest disposable plates. We all had a few laughs to be completely honest. Many of them were at my expense but when Seth and Woodsy were picking out grapes I brought up one of Woodsys' earlier comments on having lots of color in the salad. They then picked the red grapes since Regan and I both insisted that there was already too much green in the salad lol. We both didn't really care but they listened to us anyways and got the red ones... Then we needed a snack so we were walking to the cash register and Woodsy brought it up and Regan started whispering "donuts, donuts..." I started laughing but we did end up getting doughnuts which I apparently pronounce really weird, whenever I say doughnut someone laughs at me. I also wanted a chocolate donut and then they said they would all have the same since its "All about Brianna" and they trust my judgement aargh.

We paid, loaded up the car and headed back to Woodsy's flat for milkshakes and chocolate donuts with cream filling!! MMMMMMhhhmmmm

CUZ ITS ALL ABOUT BRIANNA.... apparently

A Nice Day

So yesterday was Quiet Day... no talking for 12 hours!!!! I also fasted which was pretty cool, by the end of the day I was dizzy though and was definitely ready to eat. It went pretty well and there was a hour of sharing time afterwards.

Today was workday, I got a Workday Bingo, only girl working outside, yup. Of course Randy was the one to point that out since he keeps track of everyone's Bingos, lol.  We got to eat outside for lunch for the first time, since it has been such a beautiful day. I was paired up with John D for the morning, we trimmed some plants in the rock garden and then weeded. I found lots of worms, and one of them pooped on me ;(  haha. John was a lot of fun to work with and we found lots to talk about, including the possibility of an underground worm city lol.

Later I had the privilege of mowing the lawn with a push mower... on a hill! I wouldn't say it was the easiest job but I got er done. I had to wear safety gear which consisted of ear plugs and safety glasses, Occupational Health and Safety... just great! Morgan and Randy were at the brick pile at the bottom of the hill and kept stopping to watch me which was super annoying, since this made them look like they weren't working AT ALL. The rest of the afternoon went well and tonight is Talent Night which should be lots of fun. Some people got to decorate the conference Hall as one of their workday duties, so I'm looking forward to it. I wanted to be in the Talent show but couldn't think of anything to do so I will just be watching, unless someone calls me onstage.

Oh, and I got a letter in the mail from my Dad that I had no idea he sent!!! :D

Travel Weekend

Well there is so much to say about travel weekend. IT WAS AWESOME first of all. So Friday afternoon we loaded up our stuff and 14/29 of the Capers students headed to Wollongong to stay at the Surf Resort (campground). John drove his car, and then Garth and Zach took the rest of us. Two tents, one for the guys (5) and the other for the girls (9). Pretty much everyone else headed to Sydney to either see Taylor Swift or do the Harbour Bridge Climb.

So this campground that we were at was super close to a beach, walking distance, as well there was an indoor pool and sauna, a mini golf course, convenience store, and shower facilities. This was SOME campsite, of course we each had to pay 11$ a night but it was pretty worth it.

Friday we spent on the beach but weren't allowed to go in the ocean very far because of the current and huge waves. Friday night, four of us slept on the beach, it was really chilly but well worth it to fall asleep under the stars and wake up to the sunrise.  We set down a tarp and put our sleeping bags on top, Olivia and I slept in between the guys to be safe. This turned out to be a good idea since apparently people go fishing on the beach late at night! When we woke up to watch the sunrise we also got to watch the seagulls fight over the newly washed up "treasures". One seagull found a piece of string with an object on one side and so it ate the object and had the string hanging out of its mouth.... this didn't work and he puked it back up, then ate it again haha. There was also a gull with one leg. Lots of fun, but not much sleep.

We weren't allowed to build a fire on our campsite so we huddled around a candle, under the tarp shelter we built/ strung up when we had a bit of rain. Our meals were quite interesting, most of the stuff we brought to eat were things like noodles and bread. When John went to get a torch (aka flashlight) Dunning and Emma saw shakeable pancake mix, so we had those for breakfast. Definitely made me think of camping with my Dad!

Saturday we spent the majority of the day on the beach and by the sunburns around campus, it's pretty obvious lol. I went and tried out the quite shallow pool, lukewarm hot tub, and steamy sauna... it was OK.

We really did have a blast and got to know each other a lot better, through hand-holding prayers, setting up tents, organizing meals, and trying to get back to the school.  As well as watching the people from the campsite next to us playing Truth or Dare... some interesting things were done, including one of the guys doing a strip tease.

Heading back today we were short one of the bathroom keys at the campsite and didn't get the whole deposit back,  we caught the free shuttle into town and then went to the wrong train station. Upon arriving at the other one we realized the bus wouldn't come until 5:20 and we would get back to the school too late for dinner. Emma ended up calling Woodsy and he said that he would pick us up at the beach if we wanted to wait there.

The beach was definitely a great place to wait and Olivia and I walked across the rocks that were jutting out of the harbour as well as collecting shells and rocks.

So funny how excited everyone was to see the people who didn't spend the weekend with them.